This is one of nearly a thousand foresight statements shared by people from around the world. To return to the Voices of the People home page or to refine your search, click here.
Name: James
From: California
Bio: Company visionary, creative catalyst, easily bored, always looking for the next thing that amazes me
Area of Expertise: Futurist/Consultant
Topic: Community/Culture
Headline: Living in Glass Houses
Nutshell: The complete loss of privacy in a tracked and cached future will lead us to revise how and why we live a "moral" life.
Vision:The erosion of barriers to getting and sharing information has the overall effect of stripping us of our privacy. As a result, the bad behaviour of our youth, our actions in business, or our TV viewing habits, will follow us deep into our lives. This will force us to accept leaders who are imperfect and "just like us." Our national habit of denying our failings will be challanged because our failings will be open for public view. This will have consequences.
1 – People will live better lives out of fear of being caught or embarrased (transparancy as deterrent); or
2 – People will live better because they realize that living a public life of virtue is a worthy pursuit, and that now, everything is public;
or
3 – Live even worse lives, thinking that "everyone is doing it" and cultures worldwide will lose their foundations in moral/ethical teachings (transparancy as permission).
I hope for pray for option 2, hope for option 1, and fear option 3.
And of course, there will always be people like my mom, who lived a moral life no matter who was, or wasn’t, watching.
Date Submitted: November 10, 2004
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